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Voodoo Envy u:734A middleweight rig with serious game. Price: $3,728
by Russ Fischer 
In our recent roundup of gaming notebooks, one of the best performers was Voodoo’s SLI-equipped Envy u:909. We love its power, performance, and quality, but few gamers have the $6,000 to spare on the base price. Not a millionaire? Consider the Envy u:734, Voodoo’s middleweight, 17-inch, dual-core gaming notebook. It retains the exceptional build quality and most of the performance of the u:909, while eliminating the SLI graphics card array to achieve a more palatable $3,728 base price and a more portable package.
At 8.7 pounds, the u:734 weighs in on the lighter side for a gaming notebook. This case is remarkably solid, and the screen feels as if it would yield to nothing less than hurricane force. Our chassis was painted a subtle and attractive metallic green. The very sleek design makes the case feel smaller than Dell’s XPS M1710, though it’s actually a touch larger. The extra real estate allows room for a full-sized keyboard and number pad without shrinking important keys. Four USB 2.0 ports decorate the right and back sides, while DVI and cable TV-out ports complement the I/O set. The front bezel sports a media control panel with dedicated volume and CD/DVD control buttons. While the notebook is powered down, CDs can be loaded and played directly using these controls. The 17-inch display features a glossy coating, but we had a few problems with glare. Colors remained accurate when viewed off-angle, darkening somewhat as the angle widened from 45 degrees. The native WUXGA (1900 x 1200-pixel) resolution creates extremely crisp DVD viewing, even at full-screen, and the display looked equally good when dropped down to 1024 x 768 for gaming sessions. The upper edge of the display panel features a built-in webcam for videoconferencing. An Intel Core Duo T2600 processor, in concert with Nvidia’s 256MB GeForce GO 7900 GTX, didn’t produce quite the impressive results we’ve seen from SLI notebooks, but scores of 16,556 in 3DMark03 and 4,742 in 3DMark06 are quite respectable. The real-life gaming performance actually outclasses those scores, with 109 fps in F.E.A.R. with settings on autodetect, and 70 fps with settings maxed out. Looking beyond the numbers, performance was quite enviable, with smooth frame rates showing off an excellent color depth. The u:734 is equipped with four speakers and an embedded subwoofer. It delivers great positional audio (an advantage in F.E.A.R.) with a sensitive dynamic range. The overall volume level wasn’t quite as high as that of the u:909, however. We appreciated the included S/PDIF connector when we plugged the notebook into a projector and home sound system for large-screen gaming. While gaming, the Envy u:734 distributed heat relatively well. Fan and speaker placement on the underside of the case makes the notebook poorly suited for actual laptop use, but two hours of intensive gaming generated only average heat in the palm rest areas and on the rear and undersides of the system. The Envy u:734’s most notable accessory is an extra battery ($115), which can occupy the second optical bay. Voodoo claims that this configuration extends the runtime to five hours. Carrying only the standard battery, two hours of life was consistently achieved, which still represents decent performance for a gaming rig. Our MobileMark 2005 test revealed a reasonable score of 190 with Wi-Fi on. Less impressive was the wireless reception, which was average at 15 feet (10.9 Mbps) but fell off at 50 feet (4.6 Mbps), which could be an issue at LAN sessions relying on Wi-Fi. The u:734’s many selling points should be weighed against a high price compared with offerings like Alienware’s $2,500 SLI notebook. The Aurora m9700 is still our top pick, but the Voodoo Envy u:734’s unique customization options, excellent sound, and extended battery warrant the boutique price. Voodoo Envy u:734 Specifications
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